Sunliner Diner was just one of the many highlights of our visit to Pigeon Forge TN. We were there in early October and the foliage was just beginning to turn colors but the weather was still warm and glorious.

Ladybug all set up and cozy at our site in Pigeon Forge TN at Riverbend Campground

Geese roaming the grounds of our RV park in Pigeon Forge TN

This lovely creek ran through the RV park in Pigeon Forge TN

This is how Ladybug looks when the sun goes down.

There’s so much to do in Pigeon Forge that it could rival Disney properties. If you go there with kiddos they will definitely not be bored. Steve and I had only planned on having four full days there so we needed to be very selective when choosing our attractions. But trust me when I say you could spend a couple of weeks and do something different each and every day!

Even King Kong likes to hang out in Pigeon Forge!

King Kong from the rear at the Hollywood Wax Museum

Our first day was taken up with our drive to Knoxville for Hershi’s grooming, along with our visit to the Knoxville Museum of Art. But the very next day we went on the Titanic tour which I will share about in my next post. That was followed by a day home working. And for our last full day in the area we headed to Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountain National Park.

Among the options of things to do in Pigeon Forge are these top ten attractions:

These flamingos made me feel like I was back in South Florida!

1. Paula Deen’s Lumberjack Feud Show
2. Wine Me, Shine Me, Dine Me
3. Beyond the Lens Interactive Tour
4. Rocky Top Mountain Coaster
5. Country Tonight Show
6. Great Smoky Mountain “Moonshine Murders” Dinner
7. Who Shot the Sheriff Murder Mystery Show with Dinner
8. Soul of Motown Show
9. Hollywood Wax Museum
10. Titanic Museum

Hershi was so relaxed after his spa day that he made a nest on the sofa and laid in it for hours!

Sunliner Diner Pigeon Forge TN

By the time we got back from our day in Knoxville I was pooped and so was Hershi. I also realized that I had not taken anything out of the freezer to prepare for our dinner. Knowing that there was a really cool ’50s diner just down the street from the park, Steve suggested that we go there for burgers and fries. Who was I to argue with that?

The fabulous Sunliner Diner Pigeon Forge TN

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 on display at the Sunliner Diner Pigeon Forge TN

We arrived at the Sunliner Diner Pigeon Forge TN late enough to have avoided the crowd and got seated right away. Sadly the couple of cars that were converted to booths were in use. Instead we were seated at a formica topped table. You know, the kind of formica that they used back in the 1950s. This table top was white with the boomerangs. The kitchen counters in the house I grew up in, which was built in 1953, had a gray background with pink and turquoise boomerangs.

A lot of memorable meals were prepared in my kitchen. I was 6 1/2 when we moved in on December 7, 1953. And that’s when I first fell in love with cooking. If Mommy was making burgers with potatoes and peas, for example, she would give me a little ground beef, the eyes from the potatoes and a few peas. I turned those ingredients into a beautiful plate of inedible food. But my passion for creating meals began there. By the time I was in high school I was preparing very elegant gourmet dinner parties for my dates and closest friends. That passion has never waned!

What fun to have dinner at a booth in a vintage car.

Even the servers dress the part, making you feel you have taken a time machine back to the 1950s

But I digress. The Sunliner Diner is that kind of nostalgic place that brings you back to the good old days. Servers dress in vintage attire and periodically a song will play, like the theme from Footloose, and suddenly all of the servers are performing a well choreographed dance routine. Tons of fun!!!

Nothing screams ’50s diner like a big heap of onions rings!

A good old fashioned double cheeseburger and fries at Sunliner Diner Pigeon Forge TN

And the food was pretty darn good too. Your traveling locavores both ordered the Sunliner Burger which was a stack of two griddled burger patties, crispy thick cut bacon and melted cheddar cheese on a buttered brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, red onions, pickles and perfectly cooked French fries. We began our meal with an order of good old fashioned golden brown onion rings that we devoured while we waited for our cheeseburgers.

Who could resist dining in this fabulous pink Cadillac?

Or you could eat in this fabulous early ’50s Candy Apple Red Ford convertible

Sunliner Diner’s fun and nostalgic gift shop

The Sunliner Diner Pigeon Forge TN has it all. Vintage cars that you can sit in to eat your meal, ’50s style booths along with tables and chairs right out of Father Knows Best, a long counter with swivel stools and a huge gift shop for souvenirs. What an awesome place to find literally down the street from our RV park!